scorecardresearch
Friday, March 29, 2024
Support Our Journalism
HomeSportKerala's absence did impact spectator presence during Santosh semis, admits AIFF boss...

Kerala’s absence did impact spectator presence during Santosh semis, admits AIFF boss Chaubey

Follow Us :
Text Size:

Riyadh, Mar 1 (PTI) The sizeable chunk of Malayali diaspora in Saudi Arabia didn’t turn up in large numbers at the stadium due to absence of Kerala from the Santosh Trophy knock-out, feels AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey.

Taken to the foreign shores for the first time in its eight-decade-long history, the National Football Championship is being played at the King Fahad International Stadium where superstar footballers Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo were in action in an exhibition match in January.

However the semi-final between Nagaland and Punjab hardly attracted any crowd at the 60,000 seater stadium.

“I was hoping that teams like Kerala or Bengal qualify for the semifinals. If they had qualified, may be a lot of people from Kerala would have come to watch the matches. If these football fans who lived in Saudi Arabia turned up it would have helped in generating revenue. It would be good both for Saudi federation and for India also,” Chaubey said.

“That is the reason the stadium (King Fahd International Stadium with above 60,000 capacity) was allocated. But it did not happen in a way we wanted to, because Kerala has not qualified.” Kerala, the last edition’s champions, had finished third in Group A in the second round of the tournament held in Bhubaneswar, thereby missing out of the semifinals.

Chaubey said that the matches will also feature Video Assistant Referee (VAR), which would make Santosh Trophy the first ‘domestic’ event to use the technology first introduced golobally in 2018.

But the technology was not used during the semifinals on Wednesday.

In the first semi-finals, Meghalaya stunned former champions Punjab 2-1 to qualify for their maiden final. Services play against Karanataka in the second semifinals.

Talking about the rationale of bringing the Santosh Trophy in Saudi Arabia, he said, “25 lakh Indians reside in Saudi Arabia and there are another 12 lakh Indians in nearby Bahrain and Qatar.

“During the 2022 World Cup in Doha alao, Indians formed the second largest among spectators. This is the strength that we can capitalise on,” said Chaubey, narrating a story how some Indians residing in Doha came to meet him at his hotel when he visited the Qatari capital after taking charge as AIFF chief last year.

“This is part of development of Indian football. This is giving players more exposure, better environment, better facilities, playing ground. Only the opponents are not new, all others are new,” he said.

Asked if it will continue in future also, Chaubey said, “We would like to continue this, may be in this country if all goes well. But it comes with budgetary provisions.

“Until this tournament is over, I am not in a position to say much. But as of today, I want to have this (part of Santosh Trophy playing on foreign shores) to be an annual affair.” PTI PDS KHS KHS

This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.

Subscribe to our channels on YouTube, Telegram & WhatsApp

Support Our Journalism

India needs fair, non-hyphenated and questioning journalism, packed with on-ground reporting. ThePrint – with exceptional reporters, columnists and editors – is doing just that.

Sustaining this needs support from wonderful readers like you.

Whether you live in India or overseas, you can take a paid subscription by clicking here.

Support Our Journalism

  • Tags

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Most Popular